Hidden surprises | Row of actions | Hidden gems
How do you show (but not always) that there are actions the user could take on this page / table / row / item?
We need to differentiate between those and “unhide” those at the correct moment in the user’s journey.
A mechanism that allows actions to be performed on a whole table row, that require an extra confirmation step.
VS
A mechanism that allows for a state change, with one click.
Status tags
Proposed but similar stuff is already used in MAAS (badly)
Implementation
Question - we need a new icon (possibly) to suggest ‘there is more’ but it is not an expandable cell/row/item.
How do we differentiate between state changes and actions?
Idea: To reveal hidden actions on rollover
New Icons to design to indicate ‘There is more”
When or why to use this pattern
If you have many available choices and it is not reasonable to display all of them outright this pattern allows to logically group and show the actions at the correct moment in time.
This will allow the user to not be overwhelmed with choice but to discover actions when they’re needed.
Why to use this pattern
If there are actions available on a row within a table but there isn’t enough space to display openly all options -> An unambiguous way of presenting all available actions when they are actually needed.
When not to use this pattern
Aim to make the actions discoverable - if they are hidden behind a button with a label, the text should be clear about what is behind and when would be a good time to discover it. If the actions are hidden behind a button with only an icon, the icon should be a clear metaphor for what it is going to do - the mystery meat one tends to not be great.